People have expressed their frustration at the latest road closure in a town centre undergoing a major traffic overhaul, which was blamed for a major slump in business earlier this year.

The latest stage of a major traffic shake up in Attleborough is underway. Photo: Bethany Wales

The latest stage of the £4.5m Transport for Attleborough project will take nine weeks and see work to improve the junction of High Street and Exchange Street, new pedestrian crossing points and the widening of Connaught Road to allow for two lanes of traffic.

The work means cars will not be able to join London Road from Connaught Road and separate diversions are in place for cars and heavy goods vehicles, including buses.

First Buses, which runs a regular service between Norwich and Attleborough, is operating on a revised timetable, with Besthorpe and Hargham Road both without service for the full nine weeks.

One woman, who lives in Attleborough and travels to work in Norwich by bus on a daily basis, said the extended diversion had made an already long journey unbearable.

The latest stage of a major traffic shake up in Attleborough is underway. Photo: Bethany Wales

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She said: "It normally takes about an hour to get to the city from here because of all the stops but now we're having to go round the houses it's even longer. There's a lot of people who don't drive in the town and this is making us feel cut off."

Parents with children at Rosecroft Primary School on London Road added their concern.

Rosie Harwood has a daughter starting at the school this year and said she was worried school run traffic would cause unneeded stress for the youngster.

She said: "They had six weeks to do this and instead they started it two days before the schools go back. I've already heard horror stories about drop off and this diversion is going to make it worse."

A Norfolk County Council spokesperson said the work would be monitored to ensure traffic flowed smoothly as possible and improvements would be made if needed.

She added: "As this is such a big scheme, with so many improvements on the cards, the work has to be carried out in phases to minimise disruption. We have taken care to avoid having works underway during key times such as Christmas, and are grateful for everyone's patience while this improvement work is carried out."